Dirty Blue hand-made watercolours

Dirty Blue watercolours are 'handmulled with lots of passion and even more pigment' in The Netherlands. They are available via Etsy. These are mostly single pigment colours, with lots of special rare or hard to find colours. I enjoy watching all the explorations on Instagram and YouTube.

The pan labels are hand-painted and the pans themselves have been 3D printed with the pigment number on them - as you can see below. Now that is dedication! There are also tiny pans available with just a dot of some colours. If you look closely you can see that the YInMn Blue and Manganese Blue pans below are specially 3D printed pans. These are just filled in the top half (¼ pans) to make these expensive pigments more affordable. If you want a palette set, there is a great mixing set of 14 half pans available too.

You an even buy pigment jewellery and custom pans in a range of fun shapes, and a swatch stencil. Lots to explore.

I received a mixture of half pans, quarter pans and mini pans of the following colours and have colour-matched them as closely as I can. 

PY153 is a discontinued pigment so it's lovely to see this available. Pyrrol Scarlet is my recommended warm red in a palette. This is a rich and deep version of YInMn Blue. Phthalo Cyan is a gorgeous blue, and a rarely seen pigment. Manganese Blue is hardly available anywhere any more, and this is a terrific and rich example of this cool granulating blue.

Dirty Blue Watercolours: Indian yellow, Pyrrol Scarlet, Ultramarine Pink, YInMn Blue, Phthalo Cyan, Manganese Blue.

These colours are more standard, but nice versions of each.

Dirty Blue Watercolours: Turquoise Cobalt, Green Earth, Oxide Green, Green Gold, Yellow Ochre

Genuine Quinacridone Gold is no longer available from any of the big manufacturers. This version is more orange than the previous genuine PO49 but is a lovely colour. The Burnt Sienna has some wonderful granulation, as does Potter's Pink. The Dirty Blue signature colour is a fascinating greenish bluish grey.

Dirty Blue Watercolours: Quinacridone Gold, Burnt Sienna, Potter's Pink,
Green Umber, Dirty Blue Signature colour.

You may like to watch the demonstration of the process of creating a gorgeous blue pigment from Lapis Lazuli on the YouTube Chanel - just as it was done hundreds of years ago.

These swatches have been added to my website by colour and pigment.

Happy new year for 2023. I hope it is full of colour and creation :-)

'Grounded' Solo Exhibition December 2022

I've been working solidly this year on new watercolour pieces for my solo exhibition Grounded which opened on Saturday 3rd December 2022. It is on at Gallery 11:11 in Epping, Sydney, with an opening celebration on the Saturday night. It is being supported by Roma Vino and Ta One Tha. Roma Vino distribute Little Giant Wines - I love their distinctive wombat label and have had a few of their lovely red wines. I look forward to trying more.

The exhibition runs from the 3rd December until the 17th December. Most of the paintings feature a quite restrained watercolour palette. They are painted using ochre, umber, Sienna pigments and even earth blues, greens and reds, along with some brighter pigments, to capture the texture and details of the subjects. It is quite a contrast to last years Drawn to Nature show that largely featured the brilliant colour of flowers. Here is a little video chatting the Melony from the gallery about these colours.

We also have some wonderful wooden turned bowls and chainsaw sculptures by Simon Begg at the gallery. I met him at a school exhibiton and bought a beautiful camphor laurel bowl. His chain-saw sculptures are delightful.

On Friday 2nd December we had a dinner and artist talk at Ta One Thai.

If you couldn't make the dinner or the opening, here is the booking link to book during the week, or to book a virtual tour. Or you can come along during the weekends without booking. Or see a virtual tour here.

At the end of the exhibition we'll have an event supported by Whale Rock Brewing on the 16th December - they will provide tastings of their boutique beer :-) 

We've printed a huge decal of my feature full-sheet watercolour 'Grounded'. This is 165cm wide and can be an amazing feature wall image. Here it is coming out from the printer.

While the exhibition was on, I taught a two-day workshop with a focus on natural objects, fungi and earth colours at the gallery. It is a wonderful space with great lighting.

I'll be at the gallery from 11 - 3 on Sunday the11th December.

With all my paintings completed, I've had time at last to begin a big update of my website, especially the Watercolour Swatches section. This was one of the first sections I put onto my website. My aim was to paint out and show every commercially available watercolour in the world. It is currently arranged by colour but I am reorganising it further by pigment and arranging each gallery alphabetically. I'll also be re-scanning many of the swatches for better colour accuracy. And I have yet more colours to add...

My blog continues to grow and has just surpassed 6,004,066  page views. I have gradually been adding the full range of every commercially available watercolour, arranged by brand. 

Both of these goals are a big task, as manufacturers add and removed colours and pigments constantly. I am very grateful to the manufacturers, retailers and individuals who have sent me samples to add to these resources. Keep them coming! I'll also be doing a review of each range over the next few months, to try to track the changes and add updates.

Happy painting!

A. Gallo Hand Made Watercolours

A. Gallo watercolours come from Assisi, Italy. This is a honey-based range, created to be highly lightfast and free of mercury, lead, arsenic, cobalt and cadmium. I originally tried the full range in September 2021. As of 2022, these hand-made colours are available in individual half pans in 86 colours, or a range of interesting sets. 

The Signature set from 2021 is shown below. There are also various collections and some lovely wooden palettes as part of a limited edition range. This is a range created with passion. A new brick and mortar shop has opened in Assisi for those travelling. They are also available from Jacksonsart (affiliate link) who ship world-wide.

Signature set of 24, 2021

Dot card from September 2021

The pans were wrapped in watercolour paper with the colour sample brushed over it and the presentation is gorgeous. The website was very clear and the printouts in the colour chart were so well done that I almost felt I didn't need to add the swatches here. There were some lovely primary colours and interesting purple mixes. Interestingly, about half the range was made up of realistic greens and earth colours. I updated these swatches to include the new colours added, and removed those that have been discontinued.

Update August 2024: the range has grown to 110 colours, with a couple discontinued and a couple of extra sample colours as well. I'll gradually update this blog post, including the new colours where I have them and the swatches with the details for those I don't have. Many thanks to Anish for the extra colours 🙂

A.Gallo watercolours: Buff Titanium, Titanium Yellow Hue (new 2024 not shown), Lemon Yellow PY3 (not shown), 

Lemon Yellow Permanent, Azo Yellow gold, Royal Yellow

Oranges and orange-reds are difficult to capture accurately, but these oranges are very close.

A.Gallo watercolours: Indian yellow, Arancione, Hokkaido Orange, Pyrrole Orange (new 2024, not shown), 

Vermilion Red, Cinabro Hue (new 2024)

Permanent Carmine was one of the most lovely to paint out - a beautiful example of this really useful primary red.

A.Gallo watercolours:  Medici Red, Scarlet Red, Ruby Red, Alizarin Crimson Hue, Permanent Carmine,

Quinacridone Magenta (previously Opera. Note - this is now made with PR202. It was originally PR122).

Not many companies include genuine Rose Madder. This is an earthy coral-pink version. Dragon's Blood looks a little like Perylene Maroon but with loads of granulation. It was quite difficult to activate from the half pan.

A.Gallo watercolours: Ultramarine Pink, Pietra Rosa, Potter's Pink, Rose Madder, Dragon's Blood, Lilac (new 2024)

It's nice to see a good range of single pigment purples, along with the gorgeous granulating Han Purple added in 2024. I generally mix purples with a rose and a blue, but for special effects, gorgeous granulation or gentle pigment triads or studies these purples can be a real treat.

A.Gallo watercolours: Quinacridone Violet, Mineral Violet, Tyrian Purple, Han Purple (new 2024), 

Ultramarine Violet, Dioxazine Violet.

As this range contains no cobalts of cadmiums, there isn't an option of a single pigment cerulean, but there are two cerulean hues. 'Transparent Cerulean' made with PB15:3 is basically Phthalo Blue Green Shade, though perhaps a less staining version? 

A.Gallo watercolours: Notturno, Zirconium Blue, Azurite Blue (new 2024)
Cerulean Hue (not shown), Translucent Cerulean, Azzurro.

It is wonderful to see YInMn Blue and Lapis Lazuli in this range. YInMn Blue is the newest pigment to have been discovered - in 2009 - and Lapis is often a very washed-out colour - a far cry from its original form. It was once the price of gold until PB29 was available.

A.Gallo watercolours: Phthalo Blue Red Shade (new 2024), YInMn Blue, Lapis Lazuli, Ultramarine Blue (not shown), Ultramarine Blue Dark, Periwinkle, 

Most of these are mixes but they are pretty colours.

A.Gallo watercolours: Midnight Blue, Indanthrone Blue, Copper Blue, Teal Blue, Aquamarine, Harbor Blue

I enjoy using the lovely green earth pigments in stone and pebble studies.

A.Gallo watercolours: Dar Forest (not shown), Perylene Green, Forest Green, Green Earth Cool, 

Deep Sea Green, Ultramarine Turquoise (not shown)

A.Gallo watercolours: Viridian Hue, Malachite Hue (new 2024), Spring Green (not shown), Sap Green, 

Phthalo Green Light (not shown), Fig Green.

A.Gallo watercolours: Victoria Green, Chromium Oxide, Green Earth Warm, 
Olive Green Deep, Indigo Green (new 2024), Verdaccio

The notation 'N' before a pigment number means Natural, so NG2 is Natural Green 2 - in this case Buckthorn Berry. Pigments from plants don't tend to be lightfast but they are lovely. NG2 was used with NB1 (natural indigo) in Indigo Green above.

A.Gallo watercolours: Green Umber, Buckthorn Berry Green (new 2024), Green Gold, French Ochre Sahara,
Jarosite, Still de Grain Light (new 2024)

Update in progress. Come back soon!

A.Gallo watercolours: French Ochre Sahara, Verdaccio, Green Umber, Jarosite, 
Gold Ochre, Moroccan Yellow Ochre.

I found some colours were best used in a very liquid state - painting with a 'cream' consistency lost some of the glow.

A.Gallo watercolours: Raw Sienna, Raw Sienna Badia, Yellow Ochre - Burgundy (not shown), Quinacridone Gold,
Transparent Red Oxide (not shown), Castile Orange.

A.Gallo watercolours: Ercolano Red, Burnt Sienna, Sartorio Red,
Venetian Red, Hematite, Morellone.

A.Gallo watercolours: Perylene Maroon (not shown), Quinacridone Chestnut, Burnt Umber - Cyprus,
Burnt Umber - Brownish, Chromite Brown, Burnt Umber - Dark.

A.Gallo watercolours: Sepia, Indigo, Payne's Gray, Roman Black Earth, Ivory Black, Slate Gray. 

A.Gallo watercolours: Titanium White, Antique Gold,
Buckthorn Green (discontinued), Quinacridone Red Gold (discontinued).

I've added all these painted swatches to my website, arranged by colour and pigment.

Happy painting!